The Mystery
by PintoPeep
Summary: College Years, J/C&R/T relationships! Review, if you like it, i'll post the rest,
1. Default Chapter Title

CHAPTER 1

JAKE

November 21, 2007

"That was a pretty good movie I guess, for those of us who watched it" Marco commented as we drove back to the campus. "Do you know which one we saw?"

"Um, what?" I asked, not paying attention. Cassie reached up around the seat, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed the top of my head. Her ring scratched my chin. Her engagement ring. I felt all warm inside when I thought of how I had proposed to her this morning, and how she had said yes to me. Marco looked over at me from the driver's seat of his new convertible. 

"Oh gosh, Jake. You're getting that dreamy look in your eyes again." I smiled and rubbed Cassie's arm with my head. "Are you guys going to get all mushy on me? I might have to drop you off on the side of the road." 

"Would that really be such a bad thing?" Cassie asked with a laugh. Marco turned into the parking lot for our dorm.

Maybe I should back up a little. Me, Cassie, and Marco are all animorphs. Or were, anyway, before the Andalites came to Earth. You probably already know that though. Most people have heard of us. We got a lot of medals and awards for defeating the yeerk invasion on earth. We met a lot of famous people and andalites, and got some pretty big cash awards. As far as we knew, all the yeerks were gone. Now we were free to go on living life, go to college, get married, get a job. 

"I almost forgot to tell you. Rachel called me last night and said she and Tobias are going to fly over and visit us over Christmas break." I nodded. Rachel and Tobias, who had been engaged for a few months, were going to college in Chicago. They visited us a lot though, and we visit them too. 

You might wonder how Tobias is going to college. When the andalites came to Earth, after we defeated the yeerks, the scientists made it able so Tobias could be human again, and still be able to morph to hawk, which he liked to do a lot. 

"Come on dudes, outta the car. I gotta go park." Marco urged.

"Alright see you tomorrow Marco." I said. Cassie said bye and we walked up to our floor. 

When we got to my room, we walked inside. I sat down on my bed, and Cassie sat beside me. 

"So," I said.

"So," Cassie agreed. She leaned over onto my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her. "Today is the first day of the rest of our life." She looked up at me and stared into my eyes. I've always believed that Cassie could see right into a person's soul if she wanted to. I opened it up for her. She reached up to my face and pushed a stray strand of hair back behind my ear. My heart began to beat faster. She put her hand on my chest and smiled a gentle smile. She mouthed "I love you", and I reached down and kissed her openmouthed. 

We both jumped when the phone rang. I sighed and got up to answer it. 

"Jake." Pause.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alone?"

"Who is this?" 

"A…friend."

"Who the hell are you?"

"You don't know me. But I know you. My name is Illimis 227."

"I'm sure that's your name." I scoffed, but I could feel my heart beating faster again. 

Cassie got up and put her hand on my shoulder. 

"Be assured, that is my name. I am one of the few yeerks left on Earth. I'm not very happy that you killed my whole race, but we are still here looking for revenge. The only way that we have lived is because we are intellectually smarter than the other yeerks that survived. We have made an equivalent to Kandrona Rays, and also a toy that I've been wanting to try out."

I was breathing hard by that time, and Cassie looked up at me concerned.

"What, you're speechless? That's ok, I guess. I'm so happy that I finally located one of you! I've been looking for a long time. Would you like to know what my new toy does?"

"What?" I croaked.

"I'll give you a demonstration." Before I could do anything, I heard a very highpitched beep that made my ear ring and felt a shock go up the phone. I dropped the phone and collapsed on the floor. The last thing I heard was an evil laugh.

Chapter 2

CASSIE

The phone rang and we jumped a little. I felt a little sad. Jake and I were in a very close mood. Jake stood up and picked up the phone.

"Hello?…Yeah…Who is this?…Who the hell are you?…I'm sure that's your name. " Long pause. I got up and went over to him. I could see his face drop and he said 'what?' I saw a spasm of pain go across his face. Then he collapsed. 

"Jake! Oh my god, Jake, what's wrong!?" I put my hand on his chest and could feel his heart beating very quickly, like he'd just run a mile. "Help!" I screamed. "Someone!" I picked up the phone and dialed Marco's number. 

"Hello?" Marco answered. I could hear a loud tv in the background. 

"Marco!" 

"Hey Cassie, what's up? I figured you and Jake might be busy ton…"

"It's Jake! Something happened. The phone…get over here!"

Marco's voice turned serious. "I'm on my way." I hung up the phone and sat down beside Jake and stroked his head. I felt his heart again. It was slightly slower. 

"It's ok Jake. Everything's ok." I kept saying over and over, to comfort me really. 

I heard keys rattle in the doorknob and Marco rushed in. He slid onto the floor.

"What happened?" he asked, checking over Jake.

"I don't know! He answered the phone and obviously didn't recognize who it was. Then they said something and he said 'what?' or something and then he collapsed! I have no idea what happened. 

"It's going to be alright,ok? I'll call 911." He held my chin and wiped the tears that were rolling down my face. "He's going to be alright." I nodded quickly and Marco went over to the phone and called, then came back to me. "They'll be here in a second." I nodded again and began stroking Jake's head again, to comfort both of us. It surprised me when Jake moved his head, and opened his mouth. He left it open.

"Hmmmm," Marco said. "What's up with that?"

I shrugged.

Chapter 3

MARCO

Everything after that happened quickly. The ambulance came and whisked Jake away. Cassie rode with him. I followed them to the hospital in my car. When we got to the hospital, the doctor came in to look at Jake. Cassie and I sat in the waiting room,scared to death. A nurse finally came and told us we could go see him in his room. The doctor was in there. 

"It looks like Jake passed out from shock."

"Shock!" Cassie cried.

"Yes, but something must have scared him pretty badly."

"He's going to be ok?" I said, more of a command than a question.

"Yes, he'll be ok. But he'll need to rest for a few days, and he's certainly not going anywhere until we can be assured that he's ok." As if on cue, we heard a whimper sound coming from Jake. We walked over around his bed. He started breathing in short, fast breaths. His eyes fluttered, and he moved his head around.

"Jake, come on man, wake up!" I urged. Cassie took his hand in hers and waited. We all stood there and watched him. Finally he opened his eyes, looked at me, and yelled. Loudly. He looked to Cassie and then to the doctor and his eyes widened and he yelled again. He desperately scrambled around on the bed but quickly got out of breath and laid there, very still, and panted. 

Cassie squeezed his hand, and I saw her frown when he pulled it away. We both gave the doctor a questioning look, who shrugged. 

"It has happened when the person was scared so bad that they have gone crazy, or are extremely paranoid. Unfortunately, the same thing could have happened to Jake."

"No!" Cassie yelped. She took hold of Jake's hand again and stroked his forehead with the other hand. He reached his hand up to his head and put it on Cassie's. 

"Cass?" he asked groggily. She smiled happily and nodded.

Chapter 4

JAKE

I dropped the phone and collapsed on the floor of my dorm. everything blacked out for a few seconds. Suddenly I opened my eyes and everything was in bright colors. I blinked and shielded my face with my hand. 

"Don't be scared, little Jake." I jumped up. I heard the voice. It echoed over and over again. I heard it in my head. It made my head throb with pain.

"Argh, stop it!" I rolled on the floor. Suddenly I was enveloped in darkness. I saw bright yellow eyes gleam in the black. A tiger jumped onto me and leaped over. Then I saw a slug, a yeerk, 10 times it's regular size. It opened up a mouth and swallowed me. I fell for what seemed like forever. Then I saw Cassie. 

She smiled, somewhat evilly, and began to walk away.

"Cassie, wait! Come back! I ran after her, but she always stayed the same distance away.

"Noooooooooo! Come back." I yelled weakly. I turned away and saw Marco. He smiled at me evilly, just like Cassie had. Then he began to walk towards me.

"Thank you! Marco, thank you!" He just kept smiling and reached into his jeans pocket. He brought out a knife and held it up above my head. I slunk down and whimpered. I opened my eyes and saw Marco looking down at me. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Then I looked over and saw Cassie above me. She squeezed my hand and I yanked it away. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I saw a stranger and yelled again. Then Cassie reached up and stroked my head. The familiar touch made me calm down a little. I reached up and touched her hand. "Cass?" I asked. She nodded. "Where am I? Where WAS I?" 

"You're at the hospital, dude." Marco said. "Where you were before, I dunno." 

"What happened to me? The last thing I remember is coming home from the movie in the car."

"You…you passed out from shock when we got back to your room. We were sitting on the bed and the phone rang. You answered it and talked and then passed out. Don't you remember anything?" Cassie told me.

"No, nothing." I said. I looked over at the doctor. "I'm cool now, can I go home?" He looked wary. 

"Are you sure you're ok?" 

"I'm positive, I feel great."

"I suppose. As long as if you start feeling bad, you call us back."

"Agreed." I said. 

Chapter 5

CASSIE

Marco drove us home. Jake laid down on my lap in the back and everybody was silent. When we arrived, Jake got out of the car and started walking towards the building. I turned to Marco.

"Someone called that scared Jake. It takes a lot to scare him. Who could it be?" 

"You're thinking the same thing I am, I know. A yeerk. Still alive and happy. Or maybe not happy, just alive. If it was, we've gotta be careful. They can't start spreading again." I nodded and got out of the car. I jogged to catch up with Jake and put my arm around his waist. We got to his room and stopped outside the door.

"Will you stay with me tonight? I'd feel a lot safer," he asked me. I looked at his face and saw fear in his eyes. He was truly scared.

"Yeah, sure." I responded. 

"Thank you," he said softly. He leaned down and kissed me french style. He slowly lifted his head and looked at me, then opened the door to his room and went inside. I followed him. He went into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later in a white t shirt and boxers. 

"You don't have any clothes, sorry," he told me. 

"That's ok." I took off my jacket and shoes and laid them over a chair. Then I followed them to his bed. He was already nestled under the blanket, asleep. 

"Poor baby," I whispered. I started to go to the couch, but he turned over and stopped me.

"You can sleep on the bed if you want. It's ok." I nodded and climbed in beside him. He turned back over and within a minute I could hear his in and out breathing. 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 7 I turned around and sat on a rock. I looked around at the walls, as I found a spot where the aliens hadn't covered with fake trees. I saw my reflection in the metal, and I would've laughed if what happened hadn't been done to me. My short dark brown hair had turned a very bright lime green. 

I thought what my friends would say. They would probably laugh. Or at least I thought they would. I couldn't remember them very well. I closed my eyes and tried to picture them in my mind, but I couldn't remember. I tried to think of that memory I had seen earlier. It had had me and some other girl, who was she? Oh yeah, she must have been some relative. 

Suddenly, I got the worst feeling. I couldn't remember anyone back on my planet, what was it called? Oh yeah, Earth. "God, I hope this works. Or my life may end sooner than I thought it would," I muttered to myself. 

I gnawed on a hard piece of fake food I had saved from last night, and I nearly froze to death because my shirt and jacket had somehow disappeared. I finally fell asleep with nothing else to do besides watch my fingers turn blue. A few hours later, I heard a voice, 

"Chris? Are we still going to do this?" I sat up groggily from the floor and looked around. I spotted Elsea beside me in her cage. I ran my hand through my lime green hair and stood up. 

"Yeah, let's get it over with. Watch very carefully." I backed up to the far corner of my cage. Then I ran, or tried to run, through the door. Again, the laser caught me and threw me back. I tried not to cry. 

I slowly and shakily stood up and walked back to the front of the cage. "Did…did you see it?" I said, holding back tears. "Did you see the hole?" She looked excited. 

"Yes! It's right over there." She directed me to the hole, which didn't look different from any other part of the opening. I nervously reached my hand up and through the opening. And the best part was I didn't get beamed. I twisted my hand around outside of the opening. 

"How big is it?" I asked. 

"It's about the size of half of your body," she answered. I stuck my whole arm through, and suddenly I heard a clicking noise. The whole opening lit up a soft green, and then disappeared. 

"Did I turn it off, do you think?" I asked Elsea. 

"You know there is only one way to find out." 

I stuck my foot through at the bottom of the cage. Nothing happened. I stepped through all the way. Suddenly I was standing on the other side of the cage. I nearly cried in delight. Then my cry changed from joy to horror. There were two corsunans standing behind me, lasers aimed straight for my head. I thought fast. 

"Hey!" I pretended to yell across the room. The aliens turned their heads slightly to see who I was yelling at, just long enough for me to grab one of the aliens guns and kick the other one out of the alien's hand. I aimed for the aliens and tried to figure out how to shoot the laser. There was no trigger or button or anything. 

"Damn! How do you shoot it?" I cried. A bright blue laser shot out of the opening at the end of the gun and made a hole in one of the aliens heads. I aimed at the other alien. 

I slowly said my previous words, trying to figure out what had triggered it. Then I thought, "Oh, it's shoot!" A beam exploded from the "barrel." Two dying aliens lie on the floor. I felt very proud of myself. Then I felt two cold tentacles slither up my back and curl around my neck, and heard an evil laugh. 

CHAPTER 8 "Did you really think we would let you escape?" I tried to turn my head to look behind me, but the alien had a strong hold on my neck. He turned me around and I could see an alien about the size of Frotolo. He studied me. 

"What shall we do with you? No other alien has ever tried to escape twice in a row!" You tightened his hold around my neck. I tried to reach up and pull his tentacles off me, but before I could move he reached forward and grabbed both of my arms. 

"Don't get any ideas Christopher Andrew Emerson. When you are so near me I can read your thoughts." 

"Chris!" I heard Elsea squeak my name. I couldn't respond though, because I was starting to black out from lack of air. 

The Frot look-alike laughed sinisterly, making a hu-hu-hu-hu noise. 

"What fun. I think I'll probably just make you go through torture and humiliation right now. This is quite amusing." 

By that time, all the other creatures in cages had come forward to see an alien being tortured. Elsea was doing something that was an equivalent to crying, she was making a strange whining noise from inside her cage. 

The Corsunan slithered over to her cage with me in his grasp. I almost fainted, but the alien let go of his hold on my neck just enough to let me get a few gasps of air. I gulped it in. 

"There you go, we wouldn't want to spoil the fun, now would we?" I heard more hu-hu-huing and realized that more corsunans had come into the room to watch me being tortured. I heard Frotimitite yell gleefully. 

"Delightful, Sonaflee!" So the agonizer's name was Sonaflee. He looked at Elsea and sneered in her face. 

"Stop making that awful whining sound. You wouldn't want your little friend here..." he stopped in the middle of his sentence and thrust me through the opening of Elsea's cage. I cried out in pain as I felt the laser go up and down my body. I writhed and kicked in pain. He held me inside the laser for probably 30 seconds, but it seemed like eternity. 

Finally he pulled me back out and finished his sentence. "You wouldn't want your little friend here to get hurt, would you?" Her eyes opened wide and she tried to stop crying. 

I was almost completely paralyzed now, so Sonaflee let go of my arms. They fell limply to my sides. I looked over at her without moving my head. I tried to open my mouth but no sound came out. 

"How glorious! This is so much fun!" Sonaflee cried like a 3 year old playing with a new toy. He stopped smiling and studied me. "What do you think, little creature?" he said, addressing Elsea. "Do you think that that is enough torture?" 

She nodded her head quickly. Sonaflee looked back at me. "So does this creature," he said, shaking me. "Very well, we'll just keep you on mute for a while. It's torture enough not to be able to communicate!" 

He smiled at me in a nasty way and threw me hard back in my cage, not bothering to turn off my laser, so I felt a spasm of pain as I went through the opening. 

I hit the back wall of rock, knocked my head on the ground, and lay, totally numb, on the ground. I passed out after a few seconds. 

CHAPTER 9 

The next morning, I woke slowly up. A sharp pain ran down my body the second I could think. Mom, where are you? I thought, then stopped. Who or what was a Mom? Where did that word come from? I shook my head to clear my thoughts and felt an awful headache. 

"Thank Zort you are OK!" Huh? I thought. Then I realized Elsea was beside me. I opened my eyes and saw a no-longer-foreign face staring down at me. I opened my mouth to ask why she was beside me, but no sound came out. I tried to clear my throat, but nothing happened. 

I silently started crying, but stopped when I felt an 8 fingered hand on my forehead. I suddenly felt calm and relaxed, even happy. I realized that Elsea had done it. 

I smiled at her and she smiled back. I guess she had some sort of power, but I couldn't concentrate on it. It made my head hurt. 

"They let me come in here and see you as long as I stayed in here for the rest of our time on the ship. It's awfully cold though. You must have a warm skin to be able to stand it." 

I shivered in response, and she looked questioningly at me. 

"They allowed me in, but they didn't know about my species' healing powers." She looked at me sheepishly. "I'm young though, I'm not very good at it. I can handle only small things. What hurts the most? I may be able to diminish the pain slightly." 

I weakly touched my forehead. She reached over to it with her other hand, which had only four fingers, and touched my head. Almost immediately the pain decreased dramatically. 

Can you hear me, Elsea? She showed no sign that she heard me, so I figured she wasn't physic like the other aliens. "I bet you're already thinking of another way to escape! Well, forget it. I'm surprised they didn't kill you this time, I'm sure they won't just "have fun" next time." I glumly realized she was right. I was destined to be experimented on and live in a zoo for the rest of my life. 

CHAPTER 10 Two days later, my voice had returned. Mostly. 

While I was in "mute", I had been trying to think of another plan to escape. I would try as much as I could to escape while I was on the ship, because once I got to their world, there would be zero hope. Death would be better then having to be kept as a specimen in a zoo. 

No plan I thought of would logically work, though. I racked my brain till my head hurt, and still I could think of nothing. 

While I wasn't thinking of an escape plan, I tried to remember things from Earth. Anything at all. Sometimes a name or face would pop into my head, but I couldn't hold it long enough to remember anything. This made me so mad I wanted to scream, but luckily I couldn't. 

Finally, I did think of a plan. And it had nothing to do with staying awake against my will or jumping into a door of lasers. 

I would pretend to be sick. Which wouldn't be too hard, since I had been sick since I lost my jacket. But Elsea's healing powers had kept me from being in too much pain. 

Anyway, if I was sick they would probably take me out of the cave. Hopefully, once I got out I could escape and free Elsea and the other aliens. 

I told Elsea my plan. 

"No! I won't let you try again. Let me do it. I can handle it." 

"I won't let YOU do it. They already know I try to escape, they don't even know you're connected, except for that whole crying thing you did. I'll do it even without your help." 

She looked at me weakly. "You're not going to let me do it, are you?" 

"Nope," I said. "So I guess I should stop arguing, huh?" 

"Yep." 

"OK, what do I need to do?" 

I said, "Nothing, really. Just act, I dunno, kind of scared are something, so they don't think it's an act." 

She nodded. "Ok, I can do that." 

"And you can't do your little healing thing because I'll want it to seem as real as possible." 

"But what if you get really sick?" she asked worriedly. 

"I won't, I can handle it." With that, I backed into the cave and laid down on a rock covered with fake snow. I closed my eyes and went to sleep. I would start acting. Tomorrow. 

CHAPTER 11 

I woke up feeling awful. My head was swirling and my fingers and ears were frost-bitten. I tried to sit up but my stomach heaved and I leaned over and threw up on the ground. No act. I was really sick. 

"Great, just great," I said, and coughed. I lay there shivering until a Corsunan came into the cave. 

"What's wrong with you?" it said. 

I shrugged and coughed. 

"Are you sick?" it asked. 

I nodded. 

He sighed, a strange noise that sounded like a whistle, and then said, "I'll go see if I am to waste our medicine on you, or if I should just kill you." 

He slithered away. I lay waiting for him, cursing at myself for not letting Elsea heal me the night before. Soon he came back carrying a small metal box. He opened it and held it out to me. I looked inside. Gooey, purple slime filled the bottom. 

"Eat this," he said. "Or we will have kill you." 

I took the box and prepared to swallow it quickly. I held it up to my mouth and a nasty smell filled my nose. I almost threw up again but I held my breath and swallowed it. It actually had no taste at all. But after a few seconds my mouth turned completely dry. My heart started beating really fast, as if I had just been running. I started breathing hard. I could feel my eyes bulge and I suddenly felt dizzy. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, they were clouded. Then, slowly, everything went away and I sat there, panting. 

The alien smirked. "I suppose it has a different effect on you than it does on corsunans." He turned and slithered away. I lay slowly down, but the medicine did help. I felt better. Now that I was feeling better, though, I could act. 

An hour later, the alien came back. Act sick, I silently told myself. 

I laid on my stomach and breathed harder than normal, and hoped I didn't look too healthy. 

"Are you better?" it asked. 

I coughed in reply and sniffled. I put my hand on my head and coughed again. 

"The medicine didn't work?" The alien seemed genuinely surprised. I shrugged and curled up, hoping to look like I was in pain. 

"Hmmmmmmmm," he said. "We really don't want to waste too much medicine on you, but you're the only specimen we have from Earth. So come with me, and we'll try to help you." He said 'help' like a cough, like it was some awful word. He walked forward and turned off the laser. I jumped up and slammed into him, pushing him onto the floor. I tumbled out after him and was immediately seized by two other aliens. 

CHAPTER 12 "We figured you were acting. The medicine we gave you is 100% positive for any species. So we were waiting for you outside. Your friend here tried to yell at you, but we heard her." Elsea and I were in a small room, strapped to the floor on our backs by some type of laser that looked like ropes. The two aliens, one of which was Sonaflee, were standing in front of us. 

"So both of you will stay in here for 5 days with no food. We will turn off all light sources and come back once a day to give you water." The aliens turned around and left. When they shut the heavy metal door, the room turned pitch black. We didn't talk for a long time. I lost track of time, then Elsea asked me, 

"Are you scared?" "Yeah, I'm plenty scared. If you're not scared, I have plenty to go around." I realized I had sounded pretty harsh, so I said, "Sorry. It's just I'm not all that happy about this. Five days is a long time to have no food." 

"Really? I can go without food for days before I get hungry." 

We stopped talking for a long time, and I fell into a restless sleep. 

***************************************************************** 

Two days later, I watched as the door opened for the aliens to bring in water. My stomach felt like it was being torn apart, I was so hungry. The alien came up to me and held a tube of water over me. 

"Open your mouth," he ordered. My mouth fell open and he poured the water into it. It gagged me because I was lying flat, and I coughed. Most of the water fell out of my mouth. Before he left, he slapped my bare chest hard with his tentacle. I screamed in pain. It felt like a cinder block and been dropped on me. I bounced off the ground and the ropes pulled me back down. Pain ran up and down my body. I closed my eyes and tears came spilling out from under my eyelids. 

They closed the door and the room became pitch black again. 

"Are you ok, Chris?" 

I didn't answer because I didn't want her to hear me crying. She would get scared. 

"Chris?" 

"Yeah, I'm ok." 

"Good." We didn't say anything else for a long time. 

*********************************************************** 

"Chris?" "Unhhh." "Chris? Listen to me. You have to hold on. This is the last day," Elsea said. Last day for what? Why did she have to talk about something so boring? 

"Hmmmmm…. Have you ever had a sandwich?" I asked groggily. 

Pause. "What?" 

"You know, a sandwich. I personally love the classic ham and cheese. With mustard. And sometimes even peanut butter. Everyone thinks I'm weird because I like peanut butter on it, but I don't care. I'd like a sandwich right now. Can you fix me one?" 

Long pause. "Chris, just, stop talking, ok? You're wasting too much energy." 

I started humming some song that popped into my head. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. 

A few hours later, I woke up because I heard a door opening. The aliens slithered in. One came up to me and pressed a button on the laser stick. The ropes disappeared from my wrists, elbows, knees, ankles, and neck. The alien wrapped its tentacle around one of my wrists and pulled me up. He let go and I fell down again, too weak to stand. 

He reached down and stuck a long needle in my arm, a real injection. I couldn't feel it, but immediately I felt the energy come rushing back into me. I was refilled, not hungry or tired or anything. I stood up and walked towards the door with the alien beside me. I looked at Elsea and smiled, happy to be ok again. 

We were put back in our cages again, and strangely enough it was like going back home. 


	3. Chapter 3

CONTINUED….

Chapter 6

RACHEL

November 21, 2007

California

"Hey Tobias!" I yelled over the screaming mass of people and the blaring music. "Think we should leave now?"

Tobias yelled back, "Yeah, everyone's starting to get drunk!" He took a swig out of the glass he was holding, held it up like a toast, and started laughing.

I grabbed his cup and threw it in a trash can. Then I looped my arm around his and steered him toward the front door of the frat house, stepping over spilled bottles of beer and broken glasss. Tobias stumbled after me.

"You little drunk!" I exclaimed, laughing, once we got outside. "How many cups did you have?"

"Not that many," he said defensively, then stumbled over a rock and fell against me. I made a "tsking" sound.

"That's the last time I take you to a frat party!"

"But I was having so much fun," he whimpered.

"Maybe if you're a good boy, we can do it again."

He laughed and turned down a road that led to the beach.

"How does a romantic walk on the beach sound?" he asked innocently.

"Sounds great," I replied, and jumped on his back for a piggyback ride.

"Jeez, muscle girl, did you put on some weight?"

"Of course not, you're just getting weaker," I replied innocently. We joked lightheartedly until we got to the beach. A few people were walking around, but for the most part, the beach was empty.

"Look at the moon," Tobias said in awe. The full moon was huge, and the glare bounced over the small waves.

"It's beautiful," I agreed. Tobias put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a half hug. We walked along the shore.

After a few minutes, I stopped walking and turned around to face him. I brushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. "Why do you have to be so sweet?

"It's my job," he said with a grin. The strands of hair fell in front of his eyes again, and again I reached up to fix them. HE grabbed my hand and held it to his head, then kissed it. 

"That was so Romeo," I whispered. Tobias wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. He slowly moved his head down and kissed me. I could smell, and taste, the beer in his mouth, but didn't really care. We stoof there for a minute, lips together. I felt so safe in his arms. He pulled away and I putmy head on his chest, listening to his heart beat.

He held me in his arms, with his head on mine. We swayed back and forth. Finally, regretablly, we walked home.

Chapter 7

TOBIAS

We walked to our small apratment that we shared. Rachel went to get changed and I flopped down on the couch and flipped through the limited channels on our channel impaired tv. It was 1:00 in the morning, so nothing was on. I sighed and turned off the tv, then went to my room. I took a quick shower and threw on a pair of boxers. I went back to the living room and stretched out on the floor. Rachel came in and layed down beside me. We lay there, staring at the ceiling, when the phone rang.

I jumped up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Tobias?" a familiar voice said.

"Jake! Hey, What's up?" An evil laugh followed.

"It worked!"

"What worked?" I asked, confused.

The voice suddenly got somewhat deeper. "One of my new toys!"

Insane laughter.

"What the…who is this?"

"My name is Illimist 227. How am I here? Well, you did not manage to kill me along with a few other yeerks. And we are tracking down the original Animorphs. See, we need your bodies. If people hear from you that the yeerks are good, they'll come back to us. We've already tracked down Jake, and even tortured him a bit with another one of your toys!"

I felt like fainting. Yeerks? Here? Rachel must have seen my face because she came over to me and mouthed, "Who is it?" I mouthed back, "Hold on a second."

"What'd you do to Jake?"

"He'll be ok, we wouldn't kill him. Yet. He's just going to have a bad temper. Forever. We also know everything about him." He cackled, and I could hear the voice change to a younger guy's. "We even have his voice!" It sounded so much like Jake that is was spooky.

"Now, if you will cooperate, we'll get your information too, along with showing you another new toy of ours." Before I could do anything, I heard a high pitched beep that almost broke my ear drum. Then I felt a tingle go up and down my arm, and it turned numb. I dropped the phone.

"Tobias!" Rachel called helplessly. Then I collapsed, and everything went black.

Chapter 8

RACHEL

"Oh my God!" I shrieked. "Tobias!" I fell to the floor beside him. I felt his bare chest for a heart beat, and felt one. "OK, what do I do?" I asked myself, panicked. "Call 911," I decided.

I dialed the phone and they said they would be there soon. "Now what? Ok, get it together. What happened on the phone? He was talking to Jake. But then he said, 'what did you do to jake?' I'll call Cassie to see if Jake's ok."

I picked up the phone and called Cassie.

RING

RING

RING

RING

"Hi, this is Cassie, I'm not here…"

"Urg! Answering machine! Now what? Call Jake. Yeah."

I dialed Jake's number.

RING

RING

RING

RI…

"Hello?" I heard a groggy voice answer.

"Cassie! What are doing at Jake's."

"Sleeping," she yawned.

"Ah, ok. Is something wrong with Jake?"

"Um, yeah, actually. He blacked out earlier. Had to go to the hospital. Howdya know?"

"It happened to Tobias!"

Pause.

"Really?"

"Yeah! The ambulance is coming now," I said.

"Call me when you get back."

"OK."

The ambulance came and I rode with Tobias in the back. He didn't move at all.

Chapter 9

TOBIAS

Everything was black. Then I woke up and I was falling, falling towards a rushing river. I flapped my wings, trying to fly up, but then remembered I didn't have any. So I fell, straight under the river. Water went up my nose and mouth, and I gagged. I rose above the water and yelled 'help!' at the tops of my lungs.

Suddenly all the water disappeared. I turned around and saw a bobcat lunging at me. I ducked and saw a raccoon waddling towards me. I turned around and saw a golden eagle rake its talons at my eyes. Then I saw Rachel.

"Help, Rach!" I ran towards her but she held up her hand in a stop motion. I stopped and she pulled out a dracon beam and held it up to my face! I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Rachel looking down at me.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" I yelled and covered my face.

"Tobias, Tobias, it's ok."

I looked around. I was in a hospital. Rachel held out her hand. I took it and lay there trembling. 

"What happened? I had an awful…dream."

"You fainted." To the doctor, she asked, "Can he go home?"

"If nothing else is wrong, I suppose so, as long as he takes it easy for a few days.

I turned out that I was fine, and we went home. Rachel called the airport and booked a flight to Florida for the next morning.

CHAPTER 10

CASSIE

"Hey, Jake," I said softly as I shook him awake. "Are you ok?"

"Get away from me," he said and rolled over.

I laughed, "What a grouch! Come on, you have to get up, Rachel and Tobias are come…" To my horrible surprise, Jake sat up and slapped me. Hard. Across the face.

"I told you to get away from me," he pulled the blanket over his head. I sat there for a minute. I was stunned.

"Fine then! Stay there!" I said angrily. I started to get up but Jake sat up and stopped me.

"I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened! It was like I was possessed or something."

"Uh, ok…It's ok, I guess."

"I'm really sorry."

I smiled weakly. "Don't worry about it."

He swung his legs over the side of the bed. "What'd you say about Rachel and Tobias?"

"I said they're going to be here in a few hours."

"Ok." He got up, grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants, and went into the bathroom. I had already called Marco, and he would be over in about an hour. I heard the shower come on, and I worried about Jake.

Chapter 11

RACHEL

"Don't you think we could wait until later to leave?" Tobias grumbled. I had to admit, it was pretty early in the morning. Especially since we hardly got any sleep. "The sun hasn't even come up yet."

"We have to go see the gang ASAP, so we have to leave early. Have you finished packing yet? 

"Pretty much, yeah," he answered.

"Let's hit the road then!" I said, too brightly. 

"Mmmm-hmmm."

I drove us to the airport. It was only 5:00, and thanks to a new type of technology they came up with a few months ago, we could arrive in Florida around 9:30 or so. 

When we arrived we grabbed our bags out of the trunk and went to catch the plane. While we were waiting for our flight to be called, we sat in a big room with large open windows so the passengors could watch the planes take off. As we watched a large plane leave, I saw Tobias's eyes widen and he started trembling.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I…I can't do it."

"Do what?"

"I can't fly. It's terrifying."

"You? You, who spent a large portion of your life living in the air? What do you mean?"

"I dunno, I'm scared."

"Don't worry about it. It's ok." Our flight was called. "Come on Tobias, we have to go."

He suddenly stopped trembling and he relaxed. "I dunno what happened! I'm cool now, but I was so scared! It's spooky." 

I was silent as we walked to the boarding place, but secretly I was worried about Tobias. A lot.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 11

MARCO

I heard a knock on the door. I got up from Jake's floor and answered it. Rachel and Tobias stood there. 

"Hey guys!" I greeted and held the door open for them. Rachel walked in first, followed by Tobias.

"Hey Cassie," Rachel said, and gave her a little hug. "Hey Jake."

"Gee, I feel loved," I said sarcastically. Rachel came over to me and gave me a big hug. 

"You know we all love you Marco." Tobias was standing in the doorway, acting kind of tentative about coming in. "Come on Tobias!" Rachel called.

He walked slowly in and dropped the bags he was carrying near the door. 

"Hey Tobias!" Jake called. 

"Hey Jake, Cassie, Marco." He greeted.

Rachel sat down on a reclining chair and Tobias stood near her.

"Have you had breakfast yet? We could go out," Cassie said cheerfully. 

"That's a good idea." Rachel said. No one seemed very comfortable. 

So we all got up and headed out to the cars. "We can go in my car," Jake said as he headed over to his hunter green Blazer.

"Are you sure you want to drive?" Cassie asked.

"Sure, it's no problem," Jake answered.

So we all piled in to the big SUV and headed to IHOP. Halfway there, there was a big traffic jam because of a wreck. Jake drove slowly through the traffic, when a little Porsche sped up beside us a cut in front of us. 

Jake slammed on his brakes. "Damn it!" He held the horn button down for a few seconds. "You idiot!"

"Jake, it's ok. Chill," I said. 

"Shut up Marco," he said tersely. Then he shook his head and seemed to clear his head. 

"Whoa, it happened again. I get this feeling, like a really big temper."

For the first time since they arrived, Tobias seemed interested. "What do you mean?"

"It's just like I feel this hammer blow of anger." 

"I just remembered something from the phone call last night! He… the person on the phone said that he did something to you! He said you would have a really bad temper."

Everyone thought about that until we got to IHOP. 

Finally Cassie said what I had been thinking the whole time.

"Jake, and Tobias, I think that there is a yeerk on Earth. A high-tech one."

"Maybe you're right. I mean, what else could do this to us?" Tobias asked. "Or WHO else."

"You two need to try to remember ANYTHING you can about those phone calls. It would be very helpful," Rachel said. 

"Illimis 2-2-something," Jake said.

"What?" I asked.

"That's his name. Illimis 2-2-something. The yeerk. I remember!"

"Yeah, and he had your voice when he called me. Then I heard a high pitched beep," Tobias reflected.

"Me too. Then I collapsed," Jake finished.

"Tobias, at the hospital you said you had an awful dream. What was it?" Rachel asked.

"Um, I was falling into water and I couldn't swim. Then I saw all of my…all of my predators. When I was a hawk. Then Rachel came. She was pointing a dracon beam at me! When I think about it, it's all the stuff that scares, has scared, or WOULD scare me."

"And then this morning, you said you were scared of flying! You were really scared, you were trembling," Rachel said.

"What about you, Jake, do you remember a dream?" We all paused when a waitress came to take our order. Then Jake said,

"Yeah, I do. First a huge yeerk came and swallowed me or something. I fell and landed in front of my parents. They were fighting, like always. It made me really mad."

"And you have had 2 'mad spells' today," Cassie finished.

"Two?" I raised my eyebrow. 

Jake looked down, embarrassed. Cassie looked at him expectantly.

"Two. This morning, I… I slapped Cassie."

"You slapped her? Why?" Rachel asked.

He shrugged. "I just got this feeling of…rage I guess." 

"Well, isn't this freaky. Some high tech yeerk made a weapon…"I started.

"A toy," Tobias said.

"A toy?" I asked.

"That's what the yeerk called it. A toy."

"Ooook. So the yeerk has made a TOY that messes with your brains. So now what?" The waitress brought our drinks, and we smiled at her. 

"I dunno. I guess we wait and see what happens." Jake said.

Chapter 12

JAKE

We came back to my dorm later that afternoon and just kinda hung out, talking. With nothing else to do, we actually started a game of Monopoly. 

"Heehee," Marco laughed as I became bankrupt in the game. "You suck at playing this game! I'd never trust you with my money." Suddenly I felt the still unfamiliar feeling of rage build up inside me. I lunged at Marco and knocked him to the floor, grasping his neck with my hand. 

"You better shut up before I kill you." What scared me was I really felt like I could kill him, and I could have. 

"Jake, get off him!" Cassie yelled. Marco gagged as I tightened the grip. I knew deep down inside that I was hurting my best friend, but it was like I was possessed! I couldn't stop! 

"When does it wear off?" Rachel asked desperately. Quickly, the anger melted away and I let go of Marco's neck. 

"Damnit, man! You could have killed me!"

I leaned back against my bed. "That's the scary thing. I know I could have." 

"Tobias, what's wrong?" I heard Rachel ask. Tobias was leaning against Rachel, trembling with fear. 

"Keep him away from me," he whispered. "He's scaring me."

"Keep your cool, Jake," Marco said.

"I scare you? What's so scary about me?" I asked, starting to get mad again.

Tobias shot me a look. "You're dangerous."

"I'll show you dangerous," I narrowed my eyes and lunged at Tobias. I pulled his head down and slammed it against the floor. Meanwhile, Tobias was crying his eyes out. And then, I was in a very dark room.

Chapter 13

TOBIAS 

I wiped the tears out of my eyes. "Where…where are we?" I stuttered. Then I felt the fear drift away slowly and I relaxed. A little. A very little.

"I dunno," Jake let go of me. "Sorry man. It's hard to control that…that ruthless feeling.

"I don't think that's our problem right now."

The room suddenly burst into bright light. And I saw a figure walk towards us. I shielded my eyes and saw a man about 40 years old laughing dangerously.

"How did you like my toys? I hope they put on a good show. Don't worry, I have turned them off now."

"Yeerk," Jake spat.

"Right you are Jake. And now that have both off you, we can bein the infestation."

"I don't think so," I said and jumped up towards him. I ran into some kind of invisible force that gave me a shock of electricity. 

"I think so, little Tobias. Because I have 2 waiting yeerks right here," he held up a container of some sort, "and you are trapped. Now, which one of you would like to go first?" He looked at Jake. "How about you, fearless Jake? Let's see how fearless you really are when you can no longer control your own body."

Jake gave the yeerk a piercing look but said nothing. 

"Locks on J-1," the yeerk yelled into the air.

"What?" Jake asked, confused. Suddenly, hobbles appeared around Jake's arms and legs, and he could not move.

"Let go of me!" Jake yelled. _What can I do? I have to help him, and me. _Then I spied the yeerk's weapon. It was a small control pad of some sort that the man held. Jake saw it at the same time as me and nodded ever so slightly. Illimist 2-2-whatever took a yeerk out of the container with a pair of tweezers and held it near Jake's ear. Jake let out a moan of fear as the man let go of the yeerk and it slithered into his brain. 

At that moment I leapt at the yeerk. I knocked him over and grabbed his control thingy. _I need a weapon_, I thought, and suddenly a dracon beam appeared. I tried to figure out how to shoot it, when it let out a streak of light.

"Cool." It disappeared from my hand and the yeerk and his host disintegrated. I looked down at the control panel and studied it. Suddenly, I was flying through the air as Jake tackled me to the ground. I dropped the control panel.

Chapter 14

JAKE

Noooo! I cried as my body was forced upon Tobias. 

Yes! With the control panel, I can be the most powerful yeerk on Earth! In the most powerful body on Earth.

Tobias won't let you get the control panel. He's much smarter than you.

Maybe so, but with two minds, we should be able to beat him, right?

Tobias hit the ground and the control pad skidded across the floor of the bright room. He got up quickly, but I, or the yeerk, was already running towards it. The yeerk grabbed the control panel and turned to face Tobias.

"Stay right there, Tobias. I could blow you into tomorrow with this device." Tobias stood still and pleaded,

"Come on Jake. Fight it! You can get through. I know you can. You're strong."

I fought the yeerk. Hard. I tried so hard to get my body back, and I managed to drop the control panel. Tobias leapt for it. 

"Yes!" he cried as he caught it in the air. The yeerk quickly took control again and punched Tobias in the nose. "Aaah!" Tobias yelled, but didn't drop the panel. Then he aimed it at me.

You'll die! The yeerk yelled at me right before Tobias pressed a button and he slid out of my head and onto the floor, then shriveled up and disappeared. I collapsed to the ground.

Tobias knelt beside me. "You did good, man. Let's go home."


End file.
